Delaware
flood insurance data

NFIP premiums in Delaware

NFIP premiums: what NFIP policyholders paid, not a quote. Across 16,175 policies (policies effective 2025; occupancy: residential (occupancyType 1,2,3,11,12,13,14); amount: FEMA field policyCost), the median is $1,115, and half of them fall between $771 (Q1) and $1,480 (Q3).

Residential NFIP policies counted by FEMA fell 17.6% between 2019 (19,620) and 2025 (16,175); the first year, 2019, has the highest count of the 7. The median NFIP premium in Delaware, $1,115, is 5.7% above the national median ($1,055); it is the 14th highest of 53 States and territories.

By flood zone

Policies in force by year

Base of each count: the yearly figures are FEMA API counts of residential policy terms, every premium included; the median and quartiles rest on the policies effective 2025 with a positive policyCost. For 2025 both bases count 16,175 policies.

NFIP paid building claims in Delaware

NFIP claims: amounts paid, not repair cost. Window: year of loss 2015-2024; 433 paid claims; median $5,578, half of them between $2,471 (Q1) and $13,758 (Q3), in nominal dollars. Median in 2024 dollars (CPI-U): $6,843, a monetary adjustment, not today’s cost of repair.

With 433 paid claims (year of loss 2015-2024), Delaware has the 14th fewest of 53 States and territories. The paid claims are spread over the years (year of loss 2015-2024): the busiest, 2021, holds 30.5% of them. Named events weigh little on the paid claims in Delaware: the largest, Hurricane Ida, accounts for 18.5% of them.

Paid claims by year of loss

FEMA disaster declarations

Since 2000: 11 flood, hurricane and severe-storm declarations (DR and EM) covering Delaware, 8 of them major disaster declarations.

Latest declarations

• DR-4627: REMNANTS OF HURRICANE IDA (Hurricane, 2021-10-24)
• DR-4566: TROPICAL STORM ISAIAS (Hurricane, 2020-10-02)
• DR-4090: HURRICANE SANDY (Hurricane, 2012-11-16)
• EM-3357: HURRICANE SANDY (Hurricane, 2012-10-29)
• DR-4037: HURRICANE IRENE (Hurricane, 2011-09-30)

FEMA assistance to homeowners

Since 2002: 378 owner registrations inspected by FEMA in Delaware after disasters of every declared type; inspected damage is FEMA’s assessment for its assistance program, not repair cost.

Of the 378 owner registrations FEMA inspected in Delaware after disasters of every declared type, 3.4% show more than $30,000 of FEMA-inspected damage, against 2.6% nationally. The disaster with the most inspections is DR-1494, HURRICANE ISABEL (declared 2003-09-20), with 378.

Disasters with the most inspections

• DR-1494, HURRICANE ISABEL (declared 2003-09-20): 378 inspections

NFIP communities and flood maps

FEMA’s Community Status Book lists 55 NFIP communities in Delaware: 50 participate in the NFIP and 11 (20.0%) are classed in the Community Rating System (CRS). The best class among the communities counted here is 5 (New Castle County *): FEMA applies its CRS discount to the full-risk premium of Regular Program NFIP policies in that community, inside or outside the SFHA, not to the whole state; a policy can be excluded if its building does not comply with local floodplain rules. The oldest flood map still in effect in Delaware dates from 2003-05-05 (Wyoming, Town of). 5 of these communities do not participate in the NFIP; 5 carry a sanction, 1 coded as a suspension and 0 as a withdrawal.

Questions about flood insurance in Delaware

How much is flood insurance in Delaware?

NFIP policyholders in Delaware paid a median of $1,115 for residential policies effective 2025 (16,175 policies; FEMA field policyCost: premium, reserve fund assessment, federal policy fee and HFIAA surcharge); half paid between $771 and $1,480; $1,293 inside the Special Flood Hazard Area against $749 outside it: what NFIP policyholders paid, not a quote.

How many flood insurance claims has Delaware had?

433 NFIP building claims were paid (year of loss 2015-2024), with a median of $5,578; the year with the most was 2021 (132), and the named event with the most was Hurricane Ida (80). These are amounts paid, not repair cost.

Is Delaware in a flood zone?

Of the residential NFIP policies of Delaware (policies effective 2025), 10,978 are rated inside the Special Flood Hazard Area and 5,197 outside it (zones listed: AE, X, AO, VE, A), but these aggregates cannot tell the flood zone of an address: FEMA’s Flood Map Service Center shows it for a given property.

Named storms with paid claims in Delaware

• Hurricane Sandy
• Hurricane Irene

Related tools

NFIP paid claims and premiums are not repair estimates: to estimate the cleanup of a flooded basement from published cost-guide rates, use the basement water damage repair cost calculator; for water removal and drying after any water loss, the water damage and mitigation calculator.

To set these figures against every State on one claims window, amounts paid, not repair cost: NFIP paid building claims by state.

Before using these figures

A state figure mixes very different counties and flood zones. Method and limits.

Source and notice

This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).